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A sound came from inside the house. “What was that?” She jumped up, going through the sliding screen door.
The bang, faint as was, had been obvious to Tad, but he stood behind her as Ethan came down the hall back to the living room.
“I put the toilet seat up and it fell,” he said, his attention already back on the television recording he hadn’t paused.
“Did you flush?” she asked, her tone kind.
“Yes, Mo-o-om.”
Tad was seated again when Miranda turned and rejoined him.
“You’re not quite yourself today,” he said, studying her. Frustrated and unable to sit and calmly chat. He had her answers, the information she needed, right there in his mouth and they were about to choke him.
With a glance at the living room, she said, “I’m being followed.”
Thinking he’d misheard her, Tad frowned. “What?”
“I’m being followed,” she repeated, glancing toward the house again, as though making certain that Ethan couldn’t hear them.
“What do you mean? Being followed.” No need to fake relaxing chat now. Sitting up, he leaned forward. “Who’s following you?”
“I don’t know,” she told him.
He didn’t know, either. Her abuser was dead.
Although...could this be a manifestation of the paranoia she’d spoken about regarding Marie? The reason she’d given the woman her private number? So she could help Marie fight off the insidious effects of domestic violence–based fear?
“When were you followed? Where?” he asked, thinking that if he could talk her through it, she might see things differently.
“I first noticed a gray baseball cap. Earlier in the week. I saw it three times, three different places, the last one at the grocery store. But I’m not even sure it was the same person, or the same hat.”
Okay, good. She was talking herself down.
“But then Friday, when I left work, I noticed this person sitting in a black sedan in the corner of the parking lot. I couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female, but...he seemed male to me, based on shoulder width. There was no gray cap. The head was in shadows, and I couldn’t make out hair length, but I think it was dark. And he could’ve just been watching the door, waiting for someone inside having a procedure or appointment.”
He nodded, almost smiling as he listened. Miranda was impressive. He’d known her such a short time, but was so damned proud of her. Her strength. Her determination to be accountable for her life and make the best of it.
She didn’t need him to help her beat any residual paranoia. She was doing fine on her own.
“Yesterday, I didn’t see anyone, but since we were out looking for Marie, I wasn’t paying as much attention, either.”
“You were watching every single car on the road. I’m guessing you’d have at least noticed if a similar black sedan was anywhere nearby.”
Meeting his gaze, she nodded, sitting upright in her chair—as though she were on the witness stand in court.
“Then today...he was back. Never close enough for me to make out facial features, but again, very clearly a male physique, based on shoulder and chest width. He was wearing dark, loose clothing, I think, so it was hard to tell anything for sure. He was clean-shaven. His hair’s dark. And kind of long. Not like mine. It didn’t cover his neck, but it wasn’t short like yours.”
All his emotions went on hold as Tad listened. She hadn’t just superimposed the fact that someone was following her on a random person in her area. She was attributing it to one person. As though readying herself for a police report.
“Where were you when you saw him? Another parking lot?”
“Driving,” she said. “I was on my way to Jimmy’s. He was there for a couple of miles and two turns, so, instead of going straight to the Randolphs’ house, I took some nonsensical turns, you know, going in a circle, and he was still there.”
Yeah, and now he wasn’t smiling. At all.
“That’s why I canceled the beach. And Ethan’s visit with Jimmy, too. No way would I involve an innocent little boy in anything that could potentially be dangerous.”
She was serio
